"Imbes na ang practice ngayon, lalo na sa private companies, ang estudyante [pa] ang magbabayad para mag-train," Briones added. The nursing industry is known to be among the fields where OJTs actually pay for their training due to the scarcity of available opportunities in the country.

"Dapat bayaran sila para they are already earning even as they are studying... I think that is a sound idea. Baka makatulong yan sa mga parents [na mabawasan ang financial burden nila]," she said.

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The Manila Bulletin noted that Briones earlier expressed her support for the K-12 curriculum but at the same time acknowledged that not everyone can be accommodated by the program.

This prompted her to ask for an additional P45 billion in funding to address the Alternative Learning System. If approved, this will increase the education department’s annual budget to P400 billion.

This story originally appeared on Cosmo.ph.*Minor edits have been made by the Fhm.com.ph editors.